The invention relates to a vehicle with a cabin at least one part of which consists of a frame which is provided with an outer sheathing of relatively thin material, in particular metal, at the outside and comprises at least one reinforcing element at the inside; the invention also relates to a door for such a cabin and to a method for manufacturing and providing a reinforcing element.
With a vehicle, in particular an automobile, provided with a cabin the aim is to protect its passengers as well as possible from the consequences of a collision. Measures have been taken, therefore, such as reinforcing the chassis, introducing crushable zones in the carrying parts, reinforcing the bumpers etc. The construction of the cabin itself, however, always remains a weak point. Of course it is possible to construct it from very strong material e.g. thick sheet material, but this has of course disadvantageous consequences both with regard to the price of the vehicle and the performance to be achieved with it. A particularly weak spot thereby are the doors. These are especially lack resistance to collisions in transverse direction. Many measures have already been taken, therefore, to bring about improvement in this. As is well-known the door of a modern vehicle consists of a frame, which is covered at the outside by sheathing of relatively thin material such as metal or plastic material. The door thereby forms a box, as it were, and in its interior mechanisms are disposed for operating a lock and moving a window e.g. of glass. Said window is moved up-and-down in the box-shaped space.
In order to reinforce the door against lateral impacts it has been proposed to provide reinforcing elements in the interior, i.e. in the box-shaped space. Said reinforcing elements consist of e.g one or more box girders, provided in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, which are fixed to the sides of the frame of the door. A disadvantage inherent in using such box girders is that they need to have a relatively large section in order to incorporate the desired resistance against lateral impacts. If they are too weak namely, i.e. their section is too small, they will easily buckle under a relatively small lateral impact, and can as a result involve more serious consequences than if they were not present. In most cases there is too little room in the doors for box girders with a large section because of the necessary provision of the above-mentioned moving elements and the window. In order to meet these disadvantages to a certain extent it has been proposed to use sheet material with a transverse profile, e.g. being corrugated. Such a construction, however, is relatively costly, i.a. because the fixation to the side parts of the frame of the door is relatively difficult. Nor does it entirely remove the disadvantage of buckling under a severe lateral impact.